By Teresa Rochester

Nov. 5 -- A jury found a 21-year-old Culver City gang member guilty of first degree murder with special circumstances Friday in the shooting death last September of Clifton Lavell Smith, the nephew of former Santa Monica Mayor Nat Trives.

It took the jury five days to find Timothy Sidebottom guilty of shooting Smith to death in front of his children as he sat with them in his Ford Explorer in the Oakwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on the morning of Sept. 10, 2000.

"It's a tragic situation," Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Renee Meckler said of the case that she prosecuted with Deputy District Attorney Kendra Carman.

Sidebottom, who faces life without the possibility of parole, was convicted of seven other counts that included deliberate attempted murder, assault with a semi-automatic firearm and two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle.

Each of the counts were enhanced because Sidebottom committed the crimes for the benefit of a gang and he used a firearm during the crimes, which are felonies. The firearm enhancement means an additional 10 years in prison on top of the time imposed for committing the felonies.

Sidebottom also was convicted of threatening a witness, which he did as the man gave his testimony during the trial, Meckler said.

During the eight-day trial -- which got underway with opening statements on Oct. 16 -- 25 witnesses, including Smith's children, painted a picture of the events that unfolded on the morning of Sept. 10 on the 500 block of Brooks Avenue.

Smith, 44, had taken his brother Dennis to return a rental car earlier that morning. After dropping Dennis off at his home on the 600 block of Brooks Avenue, Smith pulled over on the next block so his son, Clifton, Jr., could say hello to a school friend before returning to their Santa Monica home.

As the family sat in their Explorer chatting with their friends a car pulled along side them. Sidebottom, who was sitting in the backseat behind the driver, and another passenger in the backseat, got out of the car. Sidebottom was armed "with what was described as a rifle," Meckler said.

Sidebottom yelled out "Culver City" and something else and opened fire on Smith's Explorer and on a black Cadillac, killing Smith and injuring another man. Ballistic tests showed that three guns were fired at the time. Sidebottom is the only participant to be charged in the case.

Authorities are investigating the role of the three men who were with Sidebottom at the time.

Sidebottom will be sentenced on Nov. 30 in Dept. A at the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse.

Smith is survived by his wife Shirin Abdoh-Smith and his children Roya Smith, Clifton Smith, Jr. and Shadi Smith.

The City's only African American mayor, Smith's uncle, Trives, served on the Santa Monica City Council between 1971-1979 and as mayor from 1975-1976.